The Fraser Institute released its Economic Freedom of the World: 2025 Annual Report on September 25, 2025.
The report is based on 2023 data. Now, Trump’s war on the U.S. economy, including his tariffs (discussed in the report) and socialist policies (see “Republican Socialism: The Trump Administration Buys a Stake in Yet Another Company,” 10-27-25), is diminishing the country’s freedom.
Note too that the report does not include immigration freedom as a category. The restriction of immigration, a form of labor protectionism, infringes on the economic freedom — and natural rights — of both migrants and native-born people.
In addition, we should remember that freedom is indivisible. The Human Freedom Index, co-published by the Cato Institute and and the Fraser Institute, “presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom.” The 2025 report has not yet been released.
A country with relative economic freedom is not free if it denies personal freedom. Singapore, for instance, is ranked second in economic freedom in the new report. However, the 2024 Human Freedom Index, while also ranking the country second in economic freedom, ranks it 79th in personal freedom, with a combined ranking of 43rd.
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“[T]he most-economically free jurisdictions were Hong Kong (1st), Singapore (2nd), New Zealand (3rd), Switzerland (4th), the United States (5th), Ireland (6th), Australia and Taiwan (tied for 7th), Denmark (9th), and the Netherlands (10th).
The rankings of other major world economies include Canada (11th), the United Kingdom (13th), Germany (15th), Japan (17th), Korea (38th), France (44th), Italy (46th), Indonesia (65th), Mexico (70th), India (86th), Brazil (87th), China (108th), and Russia (148th).”
